A blog on Cuddalore. CuddaloreOnline contains 'developement oriented' news about Cuddalore, new projects that can be taken up for the development of the town, status of ongoing projects, comments and photographs of Cuddalore. You can also find posts dealing with several aspects of urban planning & design and other issues of general interests (esp.environmental issues). Subscribe for newsletters and join the CuddaloreOnline group.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

CUSECS pipe line breaks, releasing effluents into Pillukuthu Vaaikal and goes unnoticed for a while full story>>

Rotten dead body odour engulfes Semmankuppam

"Strong rotten dead body odour" Pioneer's new plant Pioneer Jelice Ltd. Residents of Semmankuppam in SIPCOT Industrial Estate are "not able to eat their food and constantly have vomiting sensation". Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has not taken any action even after repeated complaints. full story>>

SPIC "found spewing thick clouds of smoke"

SPIC "caught SPIC emitting noxious smoke" during early morning hours, early this month full story>>

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cuddalore, 3 June 2008: Contract workers of Pioneer Miyagi Chemicals have threatened to go on a strike and a road blockade if their demands of permanency, better working conditions and proper disposal of effluents from the unit are not met soon. Issuing a notice to this effect on 20th May 2008, the workers said that they have the support of the CITU Union, one of the more dominant Unions in the factory.

The workers and their families who are mostly from Semmankuppam and neighbouring villages declared their intention to go on a strike after the continued dismal working conditions and repeated illegal discharges of effluents from the unit.

According to the bit notice and the wall posters issued by the workers, their demands are:

1. Permanency of the all contract workers. 2. Proper treatment and discharge of the effluents through CUSECS instead of the illegal route currently used by the unit. 3. Better facilities and proper treatment to the workers. 4. A raise in the salary and recognition to the union of the contract workers. 5. Involvement of the District Administration and Labour Department in the decision making of the unit towards the workers.

The workers have also been able to mobilise support from the other villagers and local consumer groups of Semmankuppam. It is also learnt that CITU Union members are separately pursuing the issue of illegal effluent discharges from the Unit with the management.

Pioneer Miyagi has proposed two stages of negotiations involving District Revenue Officer and Labour Department Officer to resolve the matter. The meetings are yet to take place.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

CHENNAI: Gazing at the shimmering waters of the Bay of Bengal while traveling down the east coast on a train to Puducherry — the possibility is not so distant as Southern Railway is all set to lay a new line from Chennai to Cuddalore via Mamallapuram and Puducherry.

The project is part of an ambitious plan chalked out by the railways to connect Chennai to towns along the East Coast all the way up to Kanyakumari. Though the entire line will be executed later on, the railway board has given the go ahead to build the line from Chennai to Cuddalore at a cost of Rs 523 crore.

According to the approved alignment, the 179-km line will take off from Perungudi station on the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and traverse between Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and East Coast Road (ECR) before reaching Jipmer at Puducherry and Cuddalore. No timeframe has been fixed for completion of the line.

After Perungudi, the line will pass through Sholinganallur, Kovalam, Tiruporur, Mamallapuram, Kalpakkam, Kuvathur, Cheyyur, Marakanam, Kunimedu, Kuiyilappalayam, Jipmer in Puducherry, Bahour, Varakalpattu, Tirupadipuliyur and Cuddalore Fort. The line will run close to the sea at Mamallapuram.

The railway line will run on an embankment, and as most of the ECR does not have buildings on either side, travellers will be able to have a view of the sea.

Surveys to identify passenger feasibility on the route have revealed that the line will be viable as more people are travelling from Chennai to Puducherry and Cuddalore because of the recent developments along the OMR and ECR.

A Perungudi-Cuddalore line will enable passengers to board an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) to Mamallapuram and then switch to conventional trains to Puducherry or Cuddalore. Travellers will be able to reach Puducherry in two hours, as against the five hours via the current line through Chennai Egmore-Villupuram-Puducherry.

A senior official of Southern Railway said, “A final survey is being done by the engineering division to update the cost before starting work. But, there will not be any change in the alignment.”

Though Perungudi has been fixed as a take off point, railways is also considering other options “because they want to link the line to the main network. We are considering whether the new line can be connected to some point on the Beach-Tambaram line. This will enable it to handle long distance and freight trains,” said Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Neenu Ittyerah.

If the line starts from Perungudi, the operations wing has decided to operate EMUs from Chennai Beach via MRTS to Mamallapuram and conventional trains between Cuddalore and Mamallapuram via Puducherry. The board has approved the new line by including it in the supplementary budget of September 2007.